This Date in Weekender History: Duran Duran and Nipplegate

Duran Duran (John Taylor, left; and Simon LeBon) played a sold out Laurie Auditorium in 2004.

Highlights from Weekenders of five, 10 and 15 years ago:

Jan. 30, 2004

MUSIC

• Sting played a sold-out show at the Majestic Theatre — his first in S.A. since 1988 — in support of his “Sacred Love” CD. He hit town after having landed three Best Song Oscar nominations in four years, the latest being for “You Will Be My Ain True Love” from the movie “Cold Mountain.” Sadly, it lost to “Into the West” (sung by Annie Lennox) from the juggernaut that was the last “Lord of the Rings” movie.

• Remember when Duran Duran actually showed up for its concerts? The British quintet (which cancled a December 2008 Majestic show beause of a band member’s illness) played a sold-out Laurie Auditorium on a reunion tour that was propelled by a resurgence in interest in ’80s music. Yes, this show did happen; I checked our electronic archives and found music writer Hector Saldaña’s review:

They were a big part of why we wanted our MTV. Duran Duran, one of the premier synth-pop bands and hedonists of the early MTV era, performed to a sold-out house at Laurie Auditorium on Friday. Nearly 3,000 fans screamed like 30,000.

It was as if the Fab Five, original members all in tow — singer Simon LeBon, bassist John Taylor, keyboardist Nick Rhodes, drummer Roger Taylor and guitarist Andy Taylor – had stepped out of a time warp. It was if they were still blasting from the subwoofers at long-forgotten local dance clubs Abracadabra, Fizz and Confetti. Ah, for a couple of hours, the ’80s were back.

• The Stock Show & Rodeo’s opening act, the BBQ Cook-Off and Concert, was a bit different from this year’s incarnation. The 2004 edition was beginning its second year at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre; it moves to Six Flags Fiesta Texas this year. And it spanned two days, although the music lineup didn’t have a big Nashville star (although rising Texas Music stars Kevin Fowler and Randy Rogers were on the bill).

EVENTS

• Super Bowl XXXVIII: Sports fans remember this one as New England beating Carolina 32-29 and narrowly avoiding the first OT Super Bowl, mainly because of Carolina coach John Fox’s criminal misuse of the two-point conversion. Everyone else remembers this one for that watershed halftime show that featured Janet Jackson’s famous “wardrobe malfuction.” Everyone went nuts over the brief nipple exposure (which you couldn’t really see anyway because of her star-shaped piercing), and a major antismut crackdown ensued. Halftime really went over big at our church, where my son was attending a Super Bowl party.

• Freestyle Motocross came to the Alamodome with the buzz being about a brand-new trick almost no one could pull off — the backflip. “That’s the one I’m trying to learn right now, said 18-year-old pro rider Myles Richmond, “and it’s definitely one of the scary ones.”

(File Photo)

Oops. Janet Jackson covers up after her famous wardrobe malfunction (courtesy of Justin Timberlake) during halftime of the Super Bowl in 2004. Hardly anyone noticed.

MOVIES

As befits Super Bowl weekend, the lineup was underwhelming. The best-reviewed film of this weekend was “The Company,” a backstage-at-the-Chicago-ballet flick starring Neve Campbell, once an aspiring dancer. Also opening:

• “The Perfect Score” is a teen-heist caper comedy about stealing SAT answers starring Scarlett Johansson (also in “Girl With the Pearl Earring,” which also opened this weekend) and Erika Christensen. The interesting name in the cast is Darius Miles, then with the Cleveland Cavaliers, who has been in the NBA news the past few months because Portland, the team that cut him in 2008 because of an injury, threatened to sue any team that signed him, mainly because the Trail Blazers would be liable for his remaining salary (Memphis signed him anyway). In the movie, he plays a high school stud having trouble scoring high enough on the SAT to get into college.

(File Photo)

Erika Christensen, Darius Miles (center) and Chris Evans played high-school students out to steal the answers to the SAT in ‘The Perfect Score.’

• The Super Bowl pitted Denver against Atlanta in Miami in what turned out to be Broncos QB John Elway’s last game (he went out a winner, 34-15). The halftime show starring Stevie Wonder and Gloria Estefan was devoid of wardrobe malfuctions but not stern warnings. “You cannot go to the bathroom during the halftime show,” Estefan said. “There will be no beer runs on my time!”

• Rodeo Kickoff Concert: The Stock Show’s warmup act featured Ty Herndon, Mark Nesler and the Warren Brothers. Herndon told the Express-News’ Wiley Alexander how he broke through. “I did all the Nashville things, like singing at Opryland, but nothing every happened. It wasn’t until I’d cut my teeth on Texas honky-tonks that Nashville became interested.”

• George Strait concert: His Country Music Festival was set for April 11 at the Alamodome, featuring a decent lineup — the Dixie Chicks, Kenny Chesney, Asleep at the Wheel and Mark Wills. Here’s how time have changed — a blurb announcing the show started thusly: “For the first time this decade, a year has gone by without a San Antonio concert by South Texas’ favorite son … who last played locally Labor Day weekend,1997.”

MOVIES

• “She’s All That”: Amazing! A pretty decent teen romance, even though Freddie Prinze Jr. is in it and it has a cliched plot — Prinze is the school stud who on a bet decides to ask out brainy art student Rachael Leigh Cook (the reason to see this flick). A pre-”Fast and Furious” Paul Walker plays another BMOC with ulterior motives.

• “Hilary and Jackie”: Based-on-truth drama stars Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths as sisters and musical prodigies who drift apart when it becomes obvious one is more gifted than the other. Both leads were nominated for Oscars (Watson, Actress; Griffiths, Supporting Actress), and both lost to the juggernaut that was “Shakespeare in Love” — Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench, respectively.

Jan. 28, 1994

EVENTS

• Super Bowl XXVIII: Sigh. Remember when the Cowboys used to play in this game? And remember when the only big downside to the game for local sports bars was a rematch between Dallas and Buffalo? “The place will be full because Dallas is in it,” said Dick Mayte, who handled the satellite dishes at Fatso’s Sports Garden, in an exclusive interview with, uh, me. “The only thing we would have liked better would have been Dallas and Houston.” And there’s a photo of Cwoboys fans celebrating last year’s 52-17 win over Buffalo, which they would soon duplicate, 30-13. Double sigh.

MUSIC

• Rush! Always an S.A. fave, the Canadian power trio hit the HemisFair Arena with Candlebox opening. Hard to imagine that 15 years ago, the band was getting question about longevity and grueling years on the road. “Yeah, we get tired,” said drummer Neal Peart. For several years, that has been a difficult decision to make each time, whether we should go out and put ourselves through that. I believe that it is part of being a vital band — to play live is to keep yourself musically vital. Traveling is increasingly more unpleasant as life goes on, but it has to be done.”

Candlebox featured former San Antonian Kevin Martin as lead singer. Music writer Jim Beal Jr. asked Martin if he was nervous opening for Rush. “Extremely,” he replied. “Here we are, a young band that not many people know about, and we’re trying to get people psyched up for Rush. Rush fans are diehard. If they don’t like you, they’ll boo you off the stage.”

• Mighty Mighty Bosstones: Ska-mad big band from Boston played the Showcase Special Events Center with Fishbone (the headliner) and Gingbreadmen (a copy editor’s nightmare) opening. The band was on the road in support of its commercial breakthrough CD, “Don’t Know How to Party.” Singer Dickey Barrett, asked by music writer Jim Beal Jr. about once being blown off the stage by Fishbone, laughed and replied, “And now we’re blowing them away. When that happened, we were a young band. We’re a lot better now. Actually, Fishbone, they’re animals. Those guys are like professional athletes with musical instruments. They come around the tour bus, wake us up at 7 a.m. and try to get us out for calisthentics. They’re ridiculous.”

MOVIES

• “Blink”: Suspense flick stars the hot Madeleine Stowe as a blind violinist whose sight is restored, and the first thing she sees is a murder. Aidan Quinn is the detective on the case, and in a clinch with Stowe (thought still packing heat) in the photo accompanying the review. Naturally, I had to point this out in the caption: “Madeleine Stowe and Aidan Quinn get hot and bothered — but not to the point of Quinn (portraying a detective) taking his gun off — in a scene from ‘Blink.’ ”

• “Golden Gate”: Matt Dillon is an FBI agent who falls in love with the daughter (Joan Chen) of a man he framed and sent to prison.

• “Car 54, Where Are You?”: The studio thought so highly of the big-screen adaptation of the old sitcom, it let it sit on the shelf for four years and then released it without screening it in advance for critics. Starred David Jo Hansen, of all people (yes, the former New York Doll). Looking it up in the Internet Movie Database, I immediately bumped into this user comment: “Very likely the worst movie I’ve ever seen.”